A community centre in the Victorian border town of Wodonga has taken its war on waste to the next level by banning people with disposable coffee cups from entering the premises to favour reusable mugs.

Director of the Sustainable Activity Centre, Claire Greenhalgh, said people are refused entry into the centre if they are carrying single-use waste.

"We here at the Sustainable Activity Centre have a waste policy; you're not allowed in the venue with either a disposable coffee cup, a single-use plastic bag or a single-use water bottle or plastic straws or cutlery.

"Most of the time you are allowed to walk around destroying the planet so in here we have taken a stance and said, 'sorry, it's not good enough for you to be using those items and you are not allowed in the venue with them'," she said.

The policy has been in place since the centre opened in 2016 and there are waste policy information signs on all entries into the building.

Ms Greenhalgh said they enforced the policy to encourage people to stop using disposable plastic items and to show them that choosing those things was an inconvenience rather than a convenience.

She said there was only a small amount of people who had to be reminded of the policy and most of the time it was not a problem.

"Generally it's only the odd people who come in and who don't know what we are about. Most people walk in having that sustainable mindset," Ms Greenhalh said.

"Those that have been asked to leave … once you have explained to them that the item they have got in their hands is an inconvenience — and in the case of single-use plastic bags is going to be around for 500 years — they understand it's justified.

"We have had the odd one or two people upset by it and they are entitled too if they are used to it and having behavioural change forced upon them, but I'd say 90 per cent of people that we have had to talk to have been OK with it."

Cafe embraces 'mug' library

Other businesses in north-east Victoria have also introduced changes to reduce their plastic waste and have said customers are supportive.

In nearby Yackandandah, Saint Monday cafe owners Lauren Salathiel and Chris McGorlick have established a mug library so customers who forget their own reusable mug can borrow one rather than use a single-use cup.

"We've now got hundreds of mugs that members of the community have donated to us and that we've bought from op shops," Ms Salathiel said.

"There are lots of alternatives to using disposable cups and they are very easy alternatives. I think people have been really accepting of it."

As well as being good for the environment, Ms Salathiel said no longer stocking takeaway cups has been good for business.

She believed more cafes would follow their lead and phase out single-use cups.

"I think it's inevitable that this will happen in every cafe much sooner than we actually expect. It's really great to see a couple of other cafes in our region doing this already," Ms Salathiel said.

"We will see this popping up everywhere and this will become the norm."